Sunday, September 3, 2017

Poem: Magpie

Like ravens, owls, and vultures, magpies don’t have a great reputation. While swans symbolize beauty and self-sacrifice, ravens are associated with magic, owls represent death, and magpies have a reputation for stealing shiny things and serving as a bad omen. I’ve never been much for superstition, but I enjoy symbolism.

When I first saw a magpie in England I was surprised to learn that this particular subspecies had blue on its wings. This detail inspired a poem. I decided to combine my observations of the magpies and their thieving reputation with my experiences studying in Nottingham.

Personally, I like magpies—they’re allusive but pretty. If my poem seems a little too dark for my opinion of the birds, note that I have also compared magpies with the struggles of depression. There were plenty of times during my studies that I wondered whether or not all my efforts mattered. This poem is meant to be an exploration of emotion and nature. I suppose you could say writing poetry is one of my ways of coping with the world.

Disclaimer: This poem is meant to be about birds and education, not race and politics.

Did I ever mention these thieves are camera shy?Taking nothing they need, they strut, they chortle, they spread their blue-tipped wings to form a shadow o’er your confidence, o’er your joy‘til you’re left with nothing but empty pockets.